According to regulation, grade crossing warning systems have to be active at least 20 seconds prior to the train’s arrival at the crossing.

As for these two siblings, they think about the good times with their mom and dad and find peace in knowing their parents are still side by side.

“Wonder what mother did when he entered heaven, you know? ‘Wonder what took you so long,’” Sandra said.

Here’s some important information for you to keep in mind if you ever have car trouble on or near the tracks. The number to the railroad dispatch operator is posted at every rail crossing across the Mid-South.

Each crossing has a 1-800 number you’ll find on these signs. If you call that number, dispatchers will do everything they can to stop a train until you can get out of harm’s way.

Federal data tracks train collisions in Mid-South

Federal data tracks train collisions in Mid-South

Data from the Federal Railroad Administration shows dozens of trains - at least 48 - collided with cars in Tennessee last year, an increase from the year before.

Every three hours, a person or vehicle is struck by a train in the United States. The moments leading up to those collisions are hard to forget.

"Usually at the point of impact they look up and they’re looking you straight in the eye,” said retired Amtrak engineer Bruce Evans.

Evans has been involved in more than a dozen incidents on the tracks - derailments, collisions and suicides.

"She was going through a divorce and it was her birthday,” Evans said.

Evans says years ago, train engineers and conductors were expected to continue working after a critical incident. Now there’s a different mentality. Crew members can ask to be relieved, take time off and request to talk to a counselor.

"Even after the counseling and everything, they never are comfortable operating that locomotive again,” said retired engineer Barry Faulkner.

Faulkner spent almost 40 years in the railroad industry and saw the impact firsthand.

According to the Federal Railroad Administration, Arkansas and Mississippi are among the top 15 states with the most collisions at railroad crossings, resulting in 11 deaths in Arkansas and six in Mississippi. Another six died when trains collided with their vehicles in Tennessee.

But it’s not just drivers putting themselves in danger’s path.

“We come around these crossings and trespassers come across,” Faulkner said. “It’s a game of Russian Roulette.”

Faulkner calls them trespassers because by law that’s what they are. Railroad property is private property, so anyone walking on the tracks is considered a trespasser.

Last year in Tennessee, 12 trespassers died. FRA data shows some of the victims chose to intentionally lie down in the path of oncoming trains, others were walking on the tracks and at least two slipped or fell.

"Just like you wouldn’t walk down the middle of an interstate or you wouldn’t walk down the middle of a runway at the airport, you don’t need to walk down the railroad tracks,” said Steven Solomon, a special agent with CN Rail.